The Role of Staff and Support Agencies

Active learning works for this topic because the hidden structures of congressional work are abstract and complex. When students role play staff briefings or analyze real GAO reports, they see how legislation moves beyond election-year headlines into the daily work of experts. This makes the invisible visible and the abstract concrete for learners.

• 12th Grade
• Civics & Government
• 3 activities
• 20 min–50 min

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the specific functions congressional staff perform in drafting legislation and conducting oversight.
2. Analyze how the GAO and CRS provide nonpartisan, evidence-based research to inform congressional decision-making.
3. Critique the balance between the expertise of unelected staff and the democratic accountability of elected officials in policy development.
4. Compare the types of information provided by the GAO versus the CRS for legislative purposes.

Role Play

⏱ 50 min·Small Groups

Role Play: Congressional Staff Briefing

Students are divided into 'staff teams' of three, each assigned a current policy issue. Each team researches the issue and prepares a two-minute staff briefing for their assigned 'senator' (a rotating student role). The senator then asks two follow-up questions, and the team must answer from their research.

Prepare & details

Explain the importance of congressional staff in the legislative process.

Facilitation Tip: For the Role Play, assign staff roles tied to the bill’s jurisdiction so students experience how specialization drives the process.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Jigsaw

⏱ 35 min·Small Groups

Document Analysis: Reading a GAO Report

Students receive a short excerpt from a real GAO report on a federal program and identify: the problem the audit found, the recommendation made, the agency's response, and whether the recommendation was implemented. Groups compare findings and discuss what follow-up accountability mechanisms exist.

Prepare & details

Analyze how support agencies provide essential information for informed decision-making.

Facilitation Tip: During Document Analysis, have students annotate GAO reports with margin notes on nonpartisanship claims to practice evidence-based reading.

Setup: Flexible seating for regrouping

Materials: Expert group reading packets, Note-taking template, Summary graphic organizer

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Think-Pair-Share

⏱ 20 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Unelected Power

Students write individually about whether it is a problem that unelected staff have significant influence over policy. After pairing to discuss, the class maps the range of responses and connects them to broader questions about technocracy, expertise, and democratic accountability.

Prepare & details

Critique the potential for unelected staff to exert undue influence on policy.

Facilitation Tip: In Think-Pair-Share, provide a sentence stem like 'One task a staffer performs is...' to guide structured responses and reduce off-topic talk.

Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor

Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Teaching This Topic

Experienced teachers approach this topic by first making the invisible visible through primary sources like CRS memos or GAO testimonies. Avoid starting with definitions—instead, let students uncover agency functions through tasks. Research shows that when students trace a bill’s journey from draft to law, they grasp how staff expertise fills gaps in members’ time and knowledge.

What to Expect

Successful learning looks like students explaining how staff and agencies shape legislation, not just memorizing their names. They should connect specific tasks, such as drafting bills or vetting costs, to outcomes like committee votes or public policy. Evidence of understanding includes accurate references to agency reports or staff roles in student discussions and products.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Role Play: Congressional Staff Briefing, watch for students assuming members write all legislation themselves.

What to Teach Instead

Use the briefing script to have students identify who drafts sections and who summarizes key points, then compare that with the misconception statement to correct it directly.

Common Misconception

During Document Analysis: Reading a GAO Report, watch for students believing GAO reports favor the majority party.

What to Teach Instead

Have students highlight language in the report that indicates nonpartisanship, such as references to bipartisan requests or critical findings about programs from both parties, to ground the correction in evidence.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

After Role Play: Congressional Staff Briefing, pose this question to the class: 'Imagine you are a newly elected representative. How would you utilize the GAO and CRS to prepare for a committee hearing on healthcare reform? What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of relying on these agencies?'

Quick Check

During Document Analysis: Reading a GAO Report, provide students with a brief scenario describing a policy challenge. Ask them to identify which agency, GAO or CRS, would be best suited to provide initial research and explain why, citing specific services each agency offers.

Exit Ticket

After Think-Pair-Share: Unelected Power, on an index card, have students write one specific task a congressional staffer might perform and one way the GAO or CRS contributes to the legislative process that elected officials cannot easily replicate.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge: Ask students to find a current bill and trace which agency or staffer roles are mentioned in its history or supporting documents.
• Scaffolding: Provide a partially completed flow chart of a bill’s path with blanks for agency or staff contributions.
• Deeper exploration: Compare how a bill’s final text differs from its original draft and identify which staff or agency input caused those changes.

Key Vocabulary

Congressional Staff	Non-elected individuals employed by members of Congress or congressional committees who provide research, policy analysis, and administrative support.
Government Accountability Office (GAO)	An independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, auditing federal programs, evaluating government performance, and investigating waste and fraud.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)	A division of the Library of Congress that provides nonpartisan research and analysis to members of Congress and their staff on a wide range of policy issues.
Oversight	The process by which Congress monitors and supervises the executive branch and federal agencies to ensure laws are implemented correctly and efficiently.